


The Night is Still Young

by shoyoonly (hoot99)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Flirty Hinata Shouyou, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Idiots in Love, Post-Time Skip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:02:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26375419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoot99/pseuds/shoyoonly
Summary: “Are you listening?” Atsumu demanded. “I said, I read my friend a bedtime story every night and we sometimes sleep together. Just sleeping, no sex. What does that make me?”“Gay,” said Osamu.“His dad?” said Suna, at the same time.Atsumu groaned in frustration.-- in which Hinata relies on Atsumu’s storytelling to sleep every night.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Miya Atsumu
Comments: 12
Kudos: 167





	The Night is Still Young

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! So this is my first fanfic ever and mentally I'm Yachi at the Shiratorizawa match.  
> I owe so much to Leo (@caniculeo) who helped so generously with editing and proofreading this piece. I adore her atsuhina fics SO much I actually re-read them to stress-relieve  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy it! :D

Hinata couldn’t sleep. A sense of strangeness crept on his mind as he lay on his bed, eyes dry and wide open. He hadn’t experienced sleeplessness for so long that he’d forgotten the feeling of midnight. Hinata wasn't a person who bragged much, but he was confident that if good physical management could be converted into some sort of numerical score or academic achievement, he would be the top in class, and his sleep schedule would have won him a gold medal among his other impressive performances in nutrition and self-care.  
He knew how to sleep well. He’d basically _studied _it to optimize his physical activity. He rarely, if ever, slept after twelve. Not even for a celebratory occasion (“Thanks guys, I’d love to stay for another round of shots, but I really, really have to go.”). And nothing special had even happened today; his condition was perfectly normal, which made the situation even more confusing. He just couldn’t sleep, for no reason.__

__Hinata tried everything—he meditated, did a few pushups, drank a cup of warm milk, read his Portuguese dictionary (which was as thick as a brick), and chugged half a bottle of red wine while listening to an orchestral album (he’d never stayed awake during a classical concert), which made him feel ridiculous rather than tipsy. Not a hint of exhaustion found him. His eyelids weren’t feeling heavy. Hinata now felt defeated, like a tedious student who’d just failed an exam he normally aces. How long had it been? He stole a quick look at his electronic clock fearfully, as if a monster would jump out of it. It was one-twenty AM. Hinata had never been so terrified of the number one._ _

Hinata’s phone buzzed when he sighed and lay down again, attempting to count sheep this time. He checked it to see Atsumu sharing a link in the MSBY group chat. Hinata hesitated to click on it, knowing how using a phone before bed usually interferes with sleep.  


_Well,_ Hinata thought, _it’s not like I have anything to lose now. And maybe it’s something important, even though it’s from Atsumu-san._

He opened the message and regretted it almost immediately when he was directed to a Facebook meme page, then to a video of a guy trying to drink a bowl of boba tea with a pipe-sized straw only to end up vomiting everything out.  


_LMAO!_ Atsumu commented under the link. Hinata suddenly found it understandable why Sakusa was always up to throwing something at Atsumu’s face. But he was laughing now, feeling both amused and terribly stupid. Before Hinata realized what he was doing, he dialed Atsumu’s number. 

_\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

Atsumu was still debating with Osamu about the video he forwarded to everyone except Kita when he received the call from Hinata. _He’s not wasting food, he’s just experimenting—_

__“Hello? Shouyou-kun?” Atsumu was mildly surprised when he picked up.  
_ _

“Atsumu-san?!...Hi, hmm, so...I—I‘m sorry if you’re already asleep, I just—I saw your message and—”  


“Ah! So you were the one who read it!” Atsumu laughed. “I was wondering if it was Meian-san—I thought you usually sleep early. What’s up?”  


Atsumu intentionally lowered his voice as he spoke, the way he often did when he approached an attractive stranger in a bar. He heard Hinata pause.  


“Well...I guess I couldn’t sleep.”  


Atsumu chuckled.  


“Hey, it’s not funny!” Hinata protested, “I’m serious!”  


“But I can sleep. Good night.” Atsumu replied in his usual teasing tone.  


“ _Hey!_ ”  


“Okay, okay, relax! I was just joking." _Cute._ Atsumu smiled mischievously, "Have you tried reading a book? Or counting animals?”  


“I did! I tried everything I could.”  


“Oh. So... how can I help you?”  


As if the question caught him off guard, Hinata fell silent again. Atsumu waited patiently and wondered where this conversation was supposed to go.  


“I—I honestly don’t know. I just called,” Hinata said sheepishly. “Sorry, if you’re going to bed you can always hang up, I don’t want to—”  


“Ah, no, that’s not the problem. I sleep late, and we don’t have practice tomorrow anyway,” Atsumu interrupted. “I’m just trying to think of a way to help you.”  


“Oh, okay. Thanks! You really don't have to do this for me, you know.”  


“Stop being so polite, Shouyou-kun. You aren’t like this during games.” Atsumu laughed a little, which made Hinata do the same.  


A few seconds of silence followed.  


“Well,” Atsumu said, clearing his throat to break the ice, “not to brag or anything, but I’m actually pretty good at storytelling.”  


“Oh! Really?”  


Atsumu was encouraged by Hinata’s enthusiasm.  


“Yeah,” Atsumu said. “You see, I won a storytelling competition when I was still in school.” In first grade, at the age of 7. He’d gotten third place out of the 4 students who participated. “I still have the medal!” Which was probably buried under his and Osamu’s toys in some long forgotten paper box in Hyogo. Regardless, Hinata bought his story.  


“Whoa! That’s AMAZING! I mean, I could never imagine. I was never an articulate person, and I still have terrible stage fright.”  


“Haha...hmm, you just get used to it once you do it often.” Atsumu laughed nervously, “anyways, I was about to offer my...you know, storytelling. Maybe it’ll help with your sleep, who knows?”  


“Ah,” Hinata paused, considering. And then, “Sure! Why not? I’m actually curious about how you do it!”  


“Great! Well then, give me a sec...”  


Atsumu held the phone on his left hand and walked out of his room to Osamu’s bookshelf to search for anything that was less than 200 pages and remotely looked like teenage literature. He found a book with a colorful, cartoonish cover and mumbled “aha!” quietly to himself before he resumed the call.  


“Okay, here we go.” Atsumu flipped through a few pages and softened his voice a little, “Once upon a time, there’s this boy called Charlie. Charlie Bucket. He lived with his family in a really, really small wooden house. The one thing Charlie longed for more than anything else is, guess what? Chocolate…”  


In the next thirty minutes, Hinata just quietly listened to Atsumu—who was actually a rather entertaining storyteller—and giggled, as Atsumu made snide comments on some parts he found ridiculous (“What the hell is a _sugar_ boat?? Wouldn’t it fucking melt as soon as it lands on the lake? I bet some kid like Samu would lick the hell out of it.”).  


Atsumu just continued talking and talking, his voice rising and lowering dramatically to impersonate different characters. He read until the soft chuckles he heard from Hinata were replaced by the peaceful rhythm of breathing from the other side of the phone.  


__

_\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

____

Atsumu knew he had a lot of lovable traits, but patience wasn’t one of them. He also had various hobbies, none of which included reading. Which was why he found it extremely absurd, unbelievable, and so _uncharacteristic_ of him—an athlete who grew up absolutely hating studying—to be scanning through all the available fairy tales in his house, making notes on each of them, and digging up even more stories online. At first it was just something like _One Thousand and One Nights._ Then he was reading ancient Greek mythologies after practice. Then it upgraded to Salinger and Murakami. A month later, Atsumu ran out of stories and began subscribing to multiple short fiction websites. He listened to podcasts during bus rides now, and he’d been purchasing audiobooks so frequently that he was now a premium Amazon buyer.  


“What the hell?” Osamu demanded when he caught Atsumu holding Shakespeare, undoubtedly thinking that Atsumu had been possessed by some ancient playwright spirit or a nerdy ghost.  


Atsumu paused in the middle of reading.  


“...Yeah,” he finally said, realizing what he had become, “what the _hell_?” 

The thing is, ever since that night, it had become even more difficult for Hinata to sleep. To be more precise, Hinata now depended on Atsumu’s voice to fall asleep. 

____

__“I’m not sure why,” Hinata had said timidly a few weeks ago, with dark circles under his eyes, “but I think it is what it is.” Having been yelled at several times for dozing off during the practice match, Hinata had been benched for the first time in a while. His brown, usually bright eyes were red and watery. He looked as if he'd used up all his energy trying not to cry. Atsumu swallowed whatever questions and jokes he was about to say, and placed his hands on Hinata’s shoulders.  
_ _

“Don’t worry, okay?” he said. “ I’ll help you with it. Everything will be alright.”  


A sad smile bloomed on Hinata’s face. Atsumu decided right away that he would do anything for him.

____

So they started calling every night. Their story-telling session became a routine; Atsumu reserved his time from ten to eleven every day, specifically for Hinata. They had little discussions after every story. For _The Little Prince_ , it was whether the blonde little boy should have stayed on earth (“I really think the fox deserves more,” Atsumu said, frowning. “But the little prince must’ve missed home!” Hinata said defensively).  
Sometimes they just couldn’t get over an ending.  


“Imagine if Melos* didn’t come back in time. Imagine his friend _died_ for him. I would’ve killed him.” Atsumu gritted his teeth.  


“They’re just really lucky to have a friend like each other,” Hinata replied, sounding envious.  


__

_Not to be dramatic, Shouyou-kun_ , Atsumu thought, _but I’d do that for you_. _I would be running like a madman to go back to you_. _Like Melos_. But he just laughed and agreed.  


Their phone calls soon became occasional sleep-overs, which then became regular. Shortly after, Atsumu had practically moved into Hinata’s apartment. 

__

__

_What the hell_ , Atsumu found himself thinking again, this time in Hinata’s bathroom. He picked up one of the two toothbrushes from a pair of matching mugs, and took a moment to stare at himself in the mirror.  


It had all escalated extremely quickly and naturally. Hinata had offered, and Atsumu had accepted, like spiking tosses from him. Hinata had extra tickets, so they went to watch the movie together. Hinata suggested going to an aquarium, and Atsumu had nothing else to do, so they visited. Hinata invited him to things, and it was like Atsumu was just a robot programmed to say yes. He was enjoying it so much that he’d missed the appropriate time to question what this whole thing meant. 

__

__

____

__“Are you listening?” Atsumu demanded. “I said, I read my friend a bedtime story every night and we sometimes sleep together. Just sleeping, no sex. What does that make me?”  
__

__“Gay,” said Osamu.  
_ _

____

____

“His dad?” Suna said, at the same time.  


Atsumu groaned in frustration. Then he thought about it, and stared into the void. “Wait, maybe it _is_ gay.”  


“Or you got dad-zoned.”  


“Shut up, Samu. I’m paying for your fucking meal, so say something useful.”  


“Well, we kinda get why this is going on, so that’s that.” Suna poked his sponge cake with a fork, nonchalant. “But how do you feel about your friend? Do you like him?”  


Atsumu thought for a while. He remembered the first time he stayed at Hinata’s place. He hadn’t been able to sleep as he lay next to Hinata, who smelled like a mix of wood-scented fragrance and fresh mint, and the most soothing thing that Atsumu had ever inhaled. Atsumu had felt powerless, full, and uncontrollably _happy_ beside this person whom he found quite different off-court: Hinata was still warm and bubbly, but the energy he radiated was not as intense—it was like the difference between the sun in July and in December. And everything about Hinata was so unbearably _close_. His pink face, his toned thighs, his small hands. Atsumu had to hold his breath when Hinata hovered over him briefly to turn off the lights with the most beautiful, apologetic smile. (“Excuse me, Atsumu-san.” “Do...do what you want, Shouyou-kun.”) He’d tried his best not to peek through Hinata’s loose white T-shirt and stare too much at his bare, smooth, and lightly tanned skin. He never realized how long Hinata’s lashes were and how kissable his lips were shaped. Wait. _Kissable_.  


“I—I guess I do find him attractive.” Atsumu finally said, his ears red like the strawberry on his plate. Then he panicked, “wait, does that mean I like him? What do I do now?”  


“Shoot your shot. Ask him what your relationship is.”  


“Just like that? Wouldn’t it scare him off?”  


Osamu and Suna rolled their eyes at the same time like they were the actual twins.  


“He asks you to _sleep _at his place. Do you really think he has no idea? I’d say he’s probably waiting on you, dumbass.”  
__

____

____

Suna nodded. “You’re always so slow to realize things.”  


“Hopeless virgin.”  


“Can you two PLEASE stop roasting me for a sec? And I’m not a virgin, for god’s sake.”  


Osamu and Suna looked at each other and shut their mouth literally for a second. Then they spoke again synchronously, “Lame.”  


“I hate you both so much. I really do.”  


___“Anyways, do something.” Suna took a mouthful of his dessert and smirked.  
“Well, you’re lucky, because I’ve got a friend who actually majors in literature. I think I have a story just for you.”_ _ _

__

__

__\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_ _

____

__“Atsumu-san! What’s the story today?”  
_ _

It was ten-thirty PM. Hinata had just come out of shower. _If heaven’s real, it must smell like this _. Atsumu sighed to himself as he saw Hinata beam and walk towards the bed with an excited expression like he was ready to hear whatever Atsumu had to deliver.  
__

“Well, we’ve got a fairly short one today.” Atsumu gently ruffled Hinata’s hair, which was still a little steamy and warm from having been dried. He absently thought of pinpointing when exactly they stopped asking for permission to be touchy.  


“Yeah? Then we can sleep earlier today! That’s great!”  


“Not if everything goes well.” Atsumu said under his breath.  


“What did you say?”  


“Nothing! Nothing. Okay, let’s start.” Atsumu pulled out the two sheets of paper he’d printed beforehand (Hinata preferred that he not read stuff off his phone screen) and tried to stop his hands from shaking. He took a deep breath.  


“The handsome young Knight is in love with the Princess**. She, too, is in love with him, though she seems to be not entirely aware of it.” Atsumu stopped and stole a glance at Hinata, who looked at him innocently, encouraging him to continue. Atsumu’s voice was now slightly shaky, “Despite the friendship that blossoms between them—or perhaps because of that very friendship—the young Knight finds himself so humbled and speechless that he’s unable to bring up the subject of his love...his admiration for the Princess. So one day he asks the Princess, ‘Is it better to speak, or to die?’”  


Atsumu put down the first piece of paper on a pillow and stared at Hinata. “What do you think, Shouyou? Do you think it’s better to speak, or to bury that love in their graves?”  


Hinata opened his mouth and then closed it. He looked silently at Atsumu, whose back was now covered in sweat and his ears full of a strange buzzing sound. _It’s taking him too long to say something. It’s too late now to say it’s a joke_. Atsumu was feeling cold and hot at the same time, and he couldn’t tell if his face was pale or tomato-red. _I’m done. Everything’s done. Fuck Suna. Fuck me._  


“I would speak, I think.” Finally, Hinata answered quietly. “What about you, Atsumu-san?”  


“I—I would...if, if the other person, you know, let—let me know first,” Atsumu stuttered. He couldn’t take it anymore; he inhaled deeply and covered his face with his hands. “Fuck, that’s such a shitty answer. I don’t know, I mean, fuck it. I’ll say it to him. I like him. I like him so much.”  


“And who is he?” Hinata inquired softly.  


Atsumu still had his face in his hands. The darkness made him feel safer and like a coward. “It’s—it’s you. I like you, Shouyou-kun. It’s always been you...I don’t know when it started, I—”  


Atsumu’s hands were suddenly pulled away from his face, and he narrowed his eyes. He blinked a few times until he could see Hinata’s face clearly. Hinata was blushing.  


“Hey, remember to look into someone’s eyes when you’re confessing next time,” Hinata said, grinning. “I didn’t know you got this shy, Atsumu-san. It’s kinda refreshing.”  


“I—” Atsumu never felt this hot and small in his life. “It’s not fair. You haven’t given me an answer.”  


“Is it not obvious enough?” Hinata was now laughing, “Of course I like you. What kind of friend invites you to his house only to tell stories and sleep? I was surprised you haven’t laid a finger on me. Took you long enough.”  


Atsumu, stunned, slowly became furious.

“You— _you!_ ” He jumped on Hinata and tickled him aggressively until the latter, still laughing, started to bite his arm. Then his shoulder, then upwards to his neck, until their lips met each other to form a long, breathless kiss. After they broke apart, Atsumu had his hands on Hinata’s cheeks.  


“So did you really need my voice? My storytelling? To fall asleep?”  


“At first, yes. But then I realized I could sleep just as fine a few weeks after you moved in. Remember the time you blacked out early in the evening and stayed at Osamu-san’s place?”  


Atsumu nods. “Yeah?”  


“Well, I was freaking out at the beginning. But then I found your jacket, and I—I ended up falling asleep with it. That’s when I realized,” Hinata said, and he was blushing furiously at this point, “It’s not just your voice anymore. I needed you.”  


Atsumu’s heart soared. He leaned over to kiss Hinata again, this time more passionately. Hinata flung his arms around Atsumu’s neck, gently pulling him downwards until they both fell on the bed. Atsumu's hands began to wander over Hinata’s body, but then he paused, remembering. “Wait, it’s eleven already, your sleep schedule—”  


“It doesn’t hurt to have a cheat day.” Hinata smiled and drew Atsumu closer, “The night is still young, Atsumu-san.”  


  


**Author's Note:**

> *Atsumu was reading _Run, Melos!_ — a short story written by Osamu Dazai. It's a widely read classic in Japan.  
> **Some of you may find this story familiar. It was originally from the book _Heptameron_ written by Marguerite de Navarre d’Angouleme, but I guess it really got famous when it was referenced in _Call Me By Your Name_. 
> 
> A big thank-you to everyone who took the time to read it! ;-; English isn't my native language and I tried my best. You can find me screaming about atsuhina on [twt](https://twitter.com/shoyoonly)


End file.
